The Great Brain Robbery
| File:Great Brain Robbery.jpg | |
| Release date | 6 March 2007 (Update) |
|---|---|
| Members only? | Yes |
| Quest series | Pirate |
| Official difficulty | Experienced |
| Official length | Medium |
| Developer | Anthony W |
Official description
| “ | The peaceful contemplation of the monks of Harmony Island has been disturbed by such rude interruptions as an invasion of zombie pirates and the theft of their brains! The evil zombie pirates have returned with a new scheme, and it's up to you to try to re-mind these poor priests before the sinister Mi-Gor completes his experiments... | ” |
Walkthrough
| Start point: |  Talk to the monk Brother Tranquility, who is located just off the docks on Mos Le'Harmless.
| ||
| Members only: | Yes | ||
| Official difficulty: |  Experienced
| ||
| Description: | None | ||
| Length: | Medium | ||
| Requirements: |
| ||
| Items required: |
Recommended:
| ||
| Enemies to defeat: |
|
Bank any familiars or pets. You'll be diving during the quest, and if you attempt to do so with a familiar, the message 'You cannot go diving with a follower.' will appear in your chat box.
Disharmony
Use a charter ship to travel to Mos Le'Harmless or talk to Bill Teach at the eastern dock of Port Phasmatys. Once on the island docks, walk a bit north and you'll notice a rather sickly-looking monk by the name of Brother Tranquility. Talk to him to begin the quest. He'll tell you about how some of his fellow monks are under attack from 'undead pirates' and will ask for your help. Hesitantly, accept his offer to teleport you to Harmony Island.
Little Zombie
Arriving on Harmony, you find yourself in a granary along with the monks, who all appear to have a ghastly visage, similar to that of an undead. Calming you down, Brother Tranquility explains to you the situation of the once-peaceful island.
The monks are a cloistered group of Saradominists who originally inhabited the island, using its isolation to bless and illuminate books. They had a pact with the pirates - the pirates leave the monks alone, in exchange for any blessing they might require. That morning, they were awoken by a ship anchoring onto the island, and as they went out to investigate, a horde of zombie pirates entered and forcefully took over the monastery. Brother Tranquility says that the zombie pirates appear to be under the control of Mi-Gor, a 'twisted little zombie'.
After the undead took over the island, the monks were captured and their brains were used to 'enhance' a zombie. Fortunately, with a few playing-dead tricks, Brother Tranquility managed to free himself and the other monks back into the granary, where they stored their brain-less bodies incase they can be restored back to normal. Tranquility tells you about a secret entrance into the monastery, under a statue in the garden.
Deliverance
Items needed: Hammer, 4 planks, 10 nails
You now need to find out more about what's going on, so go outside and head north-east, dodging Zombie pirates, to find a statue that can be pulled to the side. Go down the ladder and into a tunnel full of water; you'll need to use your diving gear to traverse the water. Run past the zombie pirates and repair the stairs at the far end of the tunnel. Climb up the ladder, then look through the peephole to spy on the enemy.
It is revealed that Mi-Gor is using sleeping gas all over the island to produce enhanced zombies for a greater force, who goes by the name of 'Rabid Jack'. When he finds out that the gas production is unsatisfactory, he reprimands his sorebones, saying that they will be sent to 'The Box', which scares them to their bones. He then mutters to himself, seeming pleased at the thought of exchanging the enhanced zombies for test subjects to vivisect. Go back and inform Brother Tranquility of Mi-Gor's plan. He'll suggest you get a prayer book that can be used to pray away the poison.
Travel to the Monastery near Edgeville to find it in a bookshelf situated in the south-west corner of the building on the ground floor. On reading, it provides instructions on using it, involving a holy symbol and prayer points, so it is recommended to recharge them before leaving.
Grabbing a holy symbol, head back to the island and talk to Brother Tranquility, who speaks about some words and locusts before transporting you back to Harmony.
The gas is seeping quickly into the granary, so recite the prayer book by right-clicking on it. If you walk outside before you use your book you will suffocate and wake up back inside the windmill. Equiping your diving gear can help you stay outside, despite the gas.
Family Doctor
Now that the monks are no longer in danger of passing out, talk to Brother Tranquility again. He'd like to get the monks' brains back in their bodies where they belong. Unfortunately, as you're all too well aware by now, you're no brain surgeon, but luckily, you know someone who is.
Travel to Dr. Fenkenstrain's abode and meet up with him on the 2nd floor[help]. After a slew of requests, insults and negotiations, he eventually agrees that a new home free of the threat of being eaten sounds better than his current position. However, he doesn't want to risk being taken as game while walking to there, and weirdly also allergic to teleportation, so you must find some other way to get him to Harmony. The doctor suggests talking to Rufus about his meat delivery crates.
Err...Meow?
Items needed: 10 wooden cats, 28 nails, 4 planks.
Head to Canifis and talk to Rufus, the owner of the meat store. Make sure to be wearing the enchanted Ring of Charos when talking to him, and have two open inventory slots. He'll agree to let you use a crate and will give you 6 crate parts to build it, but you have to fill it yourself. He'll also be checking the quality of your 'product' to make sure it's worth carrying in one of his boxes.
Since he assumes you'll be transporting cats, you need to construct 10 wooden cats to fill the crate and avoid suspicion. Do not remove the ring of Charos or drop the wolf whistle, as these will be used to summon Rufus and influence him to your liking.
- If you plan to make your own wooden cats, bring 10 wooden planks and 10 pieces of fur to a crafting bench in your or your friend's house and craft 10 wooden cats.
Travel back to Fenkenstrain's castle with all of the required items. If you have a Kharyrll portal in your house, this would be useful to take. When you get to the doctor, you'll see a hotspot to build the crate. Do so, then use the extra planks of wood to build a false bottom. Finally, fill it with fake cats and use the wolf whistle to call Rufus; Fenkenstrain will automatically get inside the crate. Once past inspection of the crate, Rufus will give you a shipping order to use on the crate, teleporting it to the island.
Scrubs
Travel back to Mos Le'Harmless. Grab your combat gear from the bank and head over to Brother Tranquility back on Harmony Island. Climb down the granary ladder and talk to Dr. Fenkenstrain who will tell you that he needs some equipment to perform the surgery. He'll give you a list of items to collect:
- 3 Bell jars
- A pair of Brain tongs
- A Cranial clamp
- 30 Skull staples
- A hammer (One can be bought from the Charter Traders on the dock in Mos Le'Harmless)
Luckily, the antagonists already have what you need since they performed the surgery in the first place. The only problem is to get inside the monastery, considering that your previous route was discovered and boarded up.
Put on your diving suit and head north from the granary to Mi-Gor's ship that had run aground. Search the locker on the ground floor to get a fuse, then climb up a level and get a tinderbox and a keg of powder. With these in hand, go back to the front door of the monastery and wedge the keg in the front door. Add a fuse and light it to blow the door down and create an entrance.
Once inside, kill some sorebones till you get the needed surgical equipment; they only drop as many as you need of each item. With the items, go back to the granary and hand them over to Dr. Fenkenstrain to begin the gruesome surgery. The surgery scene is cut out and instead you see a kitten playing with a red ball of wool. After the successful surgery, go upstairs and talk to Brother Tranquility.
Barrelchest
Now that the monks are back where they belong, it's time to end this once and for all. Grab all the armour, food and potions you'll need for the upcoming fight - though not a helmet or cape since you still need to wear your diving suit.
Walk through the demolished front door of the monastery to find that the sorebones are missing, for now. Only Mi-Gor will be standing there, giving you the option to "confront" him. When you do, he'll sic his monstrosity on you, a giant mess of machinery named Barrelchest.
Tips
WARNING: Barrelchest's combat level is 210, however, like the bosses from Desert Treasure, he's much more deadly than his level implies. He will constantly hit you, drain your prayer and defence, and is resistant to most Slash weapons. Luckily, he has a very low number of hitpoints for a monster of his level. Should you die, your gravestone will be placed outside the monastery door.
Due to the update on the 2nd of June, you can no longer safespot Barrelchest in any way. If you log out or teleport away during the battle, he will be at full health again when you return.
- Until recently, you could effectively prayer flash Protect from Melee, but now each hit drains prayer points by 50, so unless you kill him before your prayer runs out, this will not work as well, so prayer or restore/super restore potions are recommended.
- As well as disrupting prayer and lowering your prayer points, he also lowers your defence, so as a suggestion: do not pray - take Saradomin Brews, super restore potions and good food. If you don't pray, one super defence potion should suffice for the whole battle. 1 or 2 rings of recoil or a ring of life, equipped in good time, may come in handy.
- Barrelchest is weak to magic and poison. It attacks with melee and is fairly accurate. When it hits, it can hit up to 350, so be careful of that. It also is weak to crush style attacks, so a crush weapon such as the Dragon mace,Dharok's Greataxe, Torag's hammers, Zamorakian Spear, or Dragon battleaxe are a good choice.
- It uses crush style attacks, so wearing armour with a high crush defence (Torag's platebody/Dragon platelegs) may help too.
- A Staff of light special is also very useful, as it effectively reduces the Barrelchest's max hit to 175.
- Alternate strategy: Use 4 Dragon Dagger special attacks on him, drink a Magic potion and use Iban blast (magic level 50).
Once you've killed Barrelchest, pick up his anchor and walk back to the windmill to inform Brother Tranquility of your victory.
Congratulations! Quest complete!
Reward
- 2 Quest points
- 6,000
experience - 3,000
experience - 2,000
experience - A Blessed lamp granting 5000 experience in a skill of your choosing above 30
- Barrelchest anchor (If broken, use on Pirate Smith on the docks of Mos Le'Harmless, while having the Book o' piracy and 230,000 coins in your inventory.)
- Prayer book
- Access to Harmony Island
- 2 extra spins on the Squeal of Fortune
Music unlocked
- Zombiism - On Harmony.
- Brain Battle - When confronting Mi-Gor. (released 5 February 2008, automatic unlock for those who have already completed the quest)
Required for completing
Completion of The Great Brain Robbery is required for the following:
Cultural References
- The title of the quest can probably be a reference to:
- The 1903 movie, The Great Train Robbery.
- The real Great Train Robbery in 1963 Bedfordshire, England.
- The Great Smile Robbery, a short novel by Liverpudlian poet, Roger McGough.
- When first talking to Brother Tranquility, the player's dialogue will reference Star Wars Episode IV, referring to Mos Le'Harmless as "a hive of scum and villainy".
- The music track, Zombiism, comes from the movie The Great Train Robbery.
- When you're talking to Brother Tranquility after the surgery, he'll say: 'W-wait..I have a bad feeling about this..' which refers to a famous quote in the Star Wars movies.
- In a dialogue with Dr. Fenkenstrain, you say: 'Urge to kill ... rising'. This sentence also was used in a Simpsons Halloween Special #6 when they when parodying Stephen King's The Shining.
- A Monty Python reference is hidden in the quest. When Rufus comments that the cats aren't moving, the character will comment that they're "probably pining", referring to "The Dead Parrot Sketch". It's also a pun, as the cats are made of wood (pine).
- Yet another reference to Monty Python is when Brother Tranquility says that the abbot of Edgeville's faith protected him from the noxious gas of the Wilderness but that he still died after being attacked by raiders; he says that "his faith wasn't powerful enough to protect him from their repeated sword blows". A similar line is said by Sir Robin in Monty Python and the Holy Grail when speaking about how Sir Lancelot trashed a Jewish Wedding believing it to be a pagan ritual.
- The antagonist Mi-Gor may be a dual reference to Igor, the hunchbacked assistant of Dr. Frankenstein, and to the Mi-Go (the Fungi from Yuggoth) from H.P. Lovecraft's story "The Whisperer in Darkness". The Mi-Go were able to transport humans from Earth to Yuggoth (Pluto) by removing their brains from their bodies and inserting them into storage cylinders equipped with sensory devices.
- After obtaining the prayer book from the Monastery, Brother Tranquility asks if you said the "words", which is probably a reference to the 1992 movie Army of Darkness, when Ash returns the book.
Trivia
- This quest has a Crafting level requirement of 16 even though Cabin Fever, a pre-requisite to this quest, has a crafting requirement of 45.
- The Mi-Gor character and Barrelchest monster are probably references to emphysema, a fatal lung disease that leaves victims with a "barrelchest" and a raspy voice.
- This quest marks the second appearance of Elfinlocks, a player spoof from the Draynor Bank Robbery, who is travelling with her clockwork cat in Canifis. She appears to have gained another Blue partyhat since her last appearance.
- When first going to Harmony Island, the player does the Scared emote, saying that they're afraid of getting hit while transporting. This is a reference to the transportation method used in Rum Deal.
- The zombie pirates and the sorebones are the only monsters so far that drop bandana eyepatches already stitched.
- The crate hotspot is one of three known construction hotspot that is made outside of your house, the other two being the penguin hide on the Iceberg and the Oracle's tent.
- When talking to Dr. Fenkenstrain after teleporting him to Harmony, you will mention "Unusual Implements R Us", a play on the toy chain "Toys R Us".
- If you examine the whistle it will say "a silver whistle" which in common folklore would seem odd, due to the werewolves' supposed "weakness" to silver.
- Even though a sleeping gas was covering entire Harmony Island, the tool leprechaun seems totally unaffected.
- The kitten scene is the same as that used in Rum Deal.
- There is a board game of the same name designed by James Earnest.
- After completing this quest, your Adventurer's Log will read, "I thwarted the plans of a zombie pirate surgeon and helped the monks of Harmony get their brains back into the right bodies."